ARIZONA FROSH IS OLD-SCHOOL

Gordon values hoops history, including dad playing for SDSU

Right across the street from Viejas Arena is Peterson Gym, the aged fieldhouse where Aaron Gordon’s father played Division I basketball for San Diego State.

Ed Gordon, known back then as “Eddy,” has told his son of the Aztecs games he played with Michael Cage grabbing every rebound in sight and Tony Gwynn handing out assists like Halloween candy.

“We were just in there this morning for a little practice,” said Aaron Gordon, now a freshman phenom with the University of Arizona Wildcats. “But the place he told me about that I’d really like to see is (Muni Gym at) Balboa Park. My dad said that’s where all the legends played.”

“Legends” tend to grow a little faster these days, what with high school and travel-ball players getting superstar treatment, and Gordon is an 18-year-old who could be in the NBA a year from now. But his teammates say he’s not like that, making him sound as old-school as Peterson Gym.

“Aaron was a different case,” Arizona senior guard Nick Johnson said. “(When) he came in, the first thing he said was, ‘I don’t want to be that kid. I don’t want to be that McDonald’s All-American who doesn’t listen. I want you to mentor me, tell me everything that I’m doing wrong.’ He came in ready to work.”

Gordon has worked out nicely, and perhaps more quickly than Arizona would have figured. Opening the second round of the NCAA Tournament today with an 11:10 a.m. game against 16th-seeded Weber State, fourth-ranked Arizona (30-4) is a no-brainer No. 1 seed in the West Region despite a season-ending foot injury sustained by star forward Brandon Ashley, a void that partly has been left to Gordon to fill.

Even before he began to really assert himself with the Wildcats this winter, Gordon was named the USA Basketball Male Athlete of the Year for leading the U.S. to the gold medal at the FIBA Under-19 World Championship, and he did that while coming off the bench. Though not yet the shooter that Ashley was before his Feb. 1 foot injury, Gordon has been positively dazzling at Arizona, astonishingly agile and mobile at 6-foot-9, 225 pounds.

He already has made himself quite at home at Viejas, too. With his father in attendance — Ed is now a math teacher in San Jose — Aaron scored 16 points, grabbed eight rebounds, and had three assists in Arizona’s win at San Diego State in December.

Arizona has returned to San Diego with extraordinary depth and an array of skilled players — who combine to play the nation’s most efficient defense — but preparing for Gordon is particularly tough. In the course of a game, he is literally all over the floor, and he seems to have no qualms about defending bigger or smaller opponents.

“Not difficult at all,” Gordon said. “I pride myself on defense. Even when Brandon was in the game, I was switching from 3 to 4 to 2. I think I’m a capable defender and I don’t really worry about the number. I worry about who I’m guarding and think I can do a decent job on anybody.”